STATEN ISLAND –
Competing with each other, and lifting each other to new heights, seniors Rocky El and Michael Parks made all sorts of history for East Syracuse Minoa indoor track and field this winter.
And neither of them let up until they were awash in medals from Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze Complex.
It peaked in the 55-meter hurdles, where Parks and El entered as the top two seeds.
In the qualifying heats, Parks led with 7.69 seconds, but El was close behind at 7.73 and, as it turned out, was saving his best race for the final.
Right from the gun, El went to the lead and never relinquished it, crossing in 7.54 seconds to claim both the NYSPHSAA and Federation championships ahead of the 7.59 from Iroquois’ Kendall Mariacher.
Parks finished in 7.75, which put him sixth and helped him join El on the awards podium.
At nearly the same time, El was competing in the triple jump. With a best attempt of 45 feet 7 3/4 inches, El rose to second place, only denied a second state title by Valley Stream North’s Ryan John, who won with 46’6 1/4″.
Later in the state meet, Parks vied for top honors in the high jump. Clearing 6’3″, Parks finished fourth for his second medal of the meet as the champion, Falconer’s Devin Austin, was only two inches better at 6’5″.
Adding a third medal in the long jump, El had a top leap of 21′ 3/4″ that put him in seventh place. Rochester McQuaid eighth-grader Rhoan Kaulder won with 22’10 1/2″.
Fayetteville-Manlius also had a big presence at the state meet, mostly on the girls side, where Hannah Kaercher earned a pair of medals.
Individually, Kaercher finished fourth in the 3,000-meter run, her time of 9:50.86 ahead of teammate Izzie Sullivan, who was 12th in 10:10.18.
Kaercher and Sullivan joined Isabella Adrian as the Hornets, in the 4×800 relay, earned fourth place in 9:23.30 – a race Cicero-North Syracuse won in a Section III-record 9:03.87 led by Kate Putman, who was the individual 1,500-meter champion.
Elsewhere for F-M, Natalee Barber ran with Section III’s distance medley relay team and finished fourth in 10:36.58, while also 16th in the 55 hurdles in 8.89 seconds. Wren Usiatynski cleared 11 feet in the pole vault to finish 11th as Will Seamans was 19th in the boys 1,000-meter run in 2:37.60.
Jamesville-DeWitt saw Caleb Smith stand out in the long jump, his best leap of 20’11 1/4” putting him just behind El and 10th overall. Nick Dekaney took 12th place in the 55 hurdles in 7.97 seconds behind El and Parks/
ESM’S Kevin Hasty was 22nd in the weight throw with 51’1 1/4″, an event won on the NYSPHSAA side by Liverpool’s Jalen Graham.
Christian Brothers Academy had senior Cooper Groat run 1,000 meters in 2:35.63 to finish 15th overall, near the top 10 in the NYSPHSAA standings.
